They are insanely steamy hot on-screen that it hurts. But once they go off-screen, the couple turns adorably cute and shy. It’s Yoo Ah In and Kim Hee Ae. Two people who surprised everyone at the Secret Love Affair press conference, 12th March, when the 20-minutes highlight reel was rolled, since they were playing the piano excellently like a pro. Once again, check how a piano performance can be so bothered hot and awesome HERE.

The long teaser garnered 15,000 viewers on Youtube in just one day. At the same day of the press conference, Secret Love Affair spotted #1 to #5 on Naver real time top search.

Yoo Ah In, the noona killer, donned a musical student uniform and showed his boyish charm. He was a cute boy around his noona during the press conference. Meanwhile, Kim Hee Ae treated him like a lovely noona to a sweet dongsaeng. Aww…

For those who are interested about the music in this trailer (and just want to listen to some of these great classics before the drama even airs), here are the list of the scores that Yoo Ah In & Kim Hee Ae play:

4:04ish – a solo piano arrangement of Schubert Fantasie, D. 940 (which is originally for piano four hands, which they play together later)

7:20ish – the Prelude from Prelude and Fugue in C Major, BWV 846 from Bach’s WTC I

8:50ish – Liszt Paganini Etude No. 4

13:08ish – the original piano four hands version of the Schubert Fantasie

19:58ish – the coda of the last movement of Beethoven Appassionata

(Source: atsu-chan @ soompi)

Producer Ahn Pan Seok said, “Their love story might be something that can be frowned upon. ‘Oh Hye Won’ is a character who has always chosen safe paths – she has never done what she wants. But when she meets ‘Lee Seon Jae,’ she faces a chance to look back on herself.”

Kim Hee Ae explained her character, “’Oh Hye Won’ is a great character who faces a total change in her life as she meets the poor pianist ‘Lee Seon Jae.’” Yoo Ah In said, “’Lee Seon Jae’ is 20 years old. He is an innocent and poor student. As he meets Hye Won and the professor Kang Jun Hyeong, his talent and love blooms – then he becomes the inspiration for Hye Won to bring forth her desires.”

PD Ahn Pan Seok said, “I think there’s a method acting and inner acting, and in this drama, I was touched by great acting of the actors. It turned out greatly.”

Yoo Ah In said he’s happy to play the role of a musician. Having played tough and strong roles in his previous dramas, Yoo Ah In said regarding playing an innocent and emotional character, “I think ‘Lee Seon Jae’ suits me very well. I have finally found my role. I played rough roles that did not suit me – I’m very comfortable as ‘Seon Jae.’”

“When I met the director, I made the decision. I thought that I didn’t have to give up the kind of acting I like. Before, I had hard time playing certain roles. But for this drama, I loved the fact that the director had the similar taste in acting to mine.”

Having shown an impressive piano playing scenes, Yoo Ah In said, “When I shot the collaboration scene with the orchestra, I felt the ‘catharsis’ that musicians feel. Even though it was not my own music, after I put forth my emotions into a piece of music, I received the applause, and I felt a great amount of catharsis. I’m having a great time with expressing the music through my body and expressions.”

Regarding Yoo Ah In’s acting, Kim Hee Ae said, “I think no one else could have played his role.” Moreover, it is said that Kim Hee Ae chose Yoo Ah In as her counterpart. “Yoo Ah In has memorized all his actions and expressions as the pianist. I asked him to join the drama, but worried if I’m making him work too hard. With his effort, he became the real ‘Lee Seon Jae’ in the piano scenes.”

As Secret Love Affair is about a dangerous love, the degree of their love scenes cause curiosity. Yoo Ah In said, “I’m not sure how the script will be written, but I’ll do whatever they tell me to do,” making the audience laugh.

Especially, this drama will be the last drama for Yoo Ah In before his military service.

“The timing of my military service is not set, but this drama seems to be the last one, and I have confirmed to star in the movie Veteran.”

Yoo Ah In, on skinship: “We already shot a kiss scene. I’ve left my heart wide open. I’m sure Kim Hee Ae sunbaenim feels uncomfortable around me too, but we’re leaving ourselves open to the idea, ‘So what, we can do that.’ We have the desire to overcome the awkwardness and be natural.”

About his co-star, he added: “Kim Hee Ae sunbaenim’s charm is her honesty and frankness. You just automatically fall in love with her.” Kim Hee Ae in turn said, “If you see the drama you’ll understand the reason you can’t help but fall for [Yoo Ah In’s character]. I haven’t looked at someone younger than me and seen him as a man before, but the more I look at him my standards go up. Yoo Ah In has cute and sexy sides.”

And when asked how far the romance will go, Yoo Ah In replied, “I don’t know what the writer has planned, but I’ll go all the way (Laughs).”

Yoo Ah In practicing his piano on the drama set (cr: jTBC)

Since the background story revolves around the classical piano world, Yoo Ah In set a tight schedule for a semi-regular basis piano practice. “The classical music has difficult songs to memorize. My supervisor said it takes huge effort of concentration,” said Yoo Ah In.

However Yoo Ah In shows a lot of confidence because he trusted PD Ahn Pan Seok and his team. He said, “PD Ahn Pan Seok’s orientation and direction in particular, are the biggest attractive qualities in my eyes. I’ve been too long playing the rebellious roles. In the past, I took roles of rebelling and fighting with sticks. Here, I’m acting a more detailed side listening to music. I put my acting into my expressions.” he said.

Kim Hee Ae added, “In Secret Love Affair I’m playing a piano expert, and Yoo Ah In a pianist too. Therefore, we had to practice playing the piano before filming. Our duet performance of the entire scores in the drama will only broadcast for like 5 minutes 50 seconds, but we had to memorize everything.”

She continued, “We watched videos and listened to the songs on the location, we memorized the musical scores, and then give an accurate expression in performing the songs. Yoo Ah In has digested a lot of scores, and he appears so believable as Lee Seon Jae the genius pianist.”

PD Ahn Pan Seok added, “At first there were many troubles caused by the piano scene. I was worried that we had to use CG (computer generated). But thanks to the outstanding performance, it turned out greatly. He continued,

“We asked the expert judgment, and they said when Yoo Ah In played the piano for these scores, even the move of his fingers [his fingerings] were just exactly the same as those of real pianist’s, including the scene of him playing the imaginery piano [by the Han River].”

Asked about the huge age gap where the woman is older in relationship, Yoo Ah In answered that love knows no boundaries. “When ones so love each other, age different is not important.” Kim Hee Ae said something that made people laugh, “Before, I never thought younger men were men. I thought, ‘How could you date a younger guy?’ But then I met Lee Seung Gi in Noonas Over Flowers, and I thought he was quite cute, and Yoo Ah In is cute and even sexy, so I changed my mind. My standards are higher now, so I’m worry about my next drama [after Secret Love Affair].”

The drama supervisor who is in charge of the classical pianist, Kim So Hyeong: “It seems Yoo Ah In is a genius for real.” He emphasized, “He has never formally learned the piano, however he managed to comprehend the scores and emotions precisely. Classical music scores are difficult to memorize but he did it only in one day. I think the genius pianist Lee Seon Jae is already in Yoo Ah In’s nature.”

Upon MC’s request, Yoo Ah In and Kim Hee Ae posed just like their pose in the drama poster. lol! Check out some of the fluffy poses below~

I’m waiting for this drama to start. Definitely will watch it.
But in my heart, I’m really hoping to see another Yoo ahin and Kim taehee drama.
I really really like the two of them together. Mianhada Rain, but I’m a super big fan of Lee Soon
and Jang Okjung.

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